Saturday, January 29, 2011

Going to Prague and Barcelona

Hey everyone!

I'm on my way to Prague and Barcelona!

I already did last week and this weeks beer of the week but I didn't get a chance to post it.

Check in after Super bowl sunday for pictures from my trip and the Beers of the Week

I hope everyone is doing well!

Take care!

Brian

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Intermission

Hey everyone,

Heres a random photo of some art I made today in class during a whole day of presentations. Its made from the left over peel and parts of some clementines.



Photo of my classroom where my lecture is held.




Stay tuned in the next few days for this week's and lasts week's "beer of the week" postings!!!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Open Air Museum in Arnhem


Last Saturday I went with the Exchange Student Organization to the Open Air Museum. The museum has recreated or brought in many important buildings in Dutch history. Its a "miniature Netherlands"

We were fortunate to have a hilarious tour guide who made the journey quite magical





Our first stop was the house of "poor man" who lived in the netherlands so many years ago. (sorry about the random dutch girl taking up most of the photo)



This is the "sheep barn" - the farmer moved the sheep out to the fields to graze all day and then back into their "house" to collect their manure and use it as fertilizer.


A tired sheep.


An altert sheep



I think this was used for the clay making process in building a house? but I'm not sure...




If you look a little closer in the last photo you can see this beautiful bird...




Billy Goat!




The barn of a rich farmer...



This is a photo of our tour guide (on the left) explaining that the blue line around the barn helped keep the devil out! blue is associated with the sky and therefore heaven, so at night when the devil comes out of the ground he will see the blue line and get scared!


Inside the rich farmer's house








This windmill was invented to make lumber out of whole logs... It was revolutionary for its ability to turn the rotational movement of the blades into a piston like up and down motion. 


The center of the Open Air Museum


A shipyard. The white outlines are used to find the door with what little light you have at night.


During our visit, the museum was having their "christmas market!"


A blacksmith's workshop.


The blacksmith at work.


Random car owned by an early transportation company


The trolly that ran around the park


Our group on the train!


The first train station in The Netherlands I believe



A house that could be built in a few days...


They also have their own brewery!!!!


Translation: "drink beer for every man" or "beer is the drink for every man"



Kegs




We met a group of people (35 or so) that dress up in different centuries, that day they were dressed up like the 50s.... He also carried a camera that was from 1929. It still works!!!


Shop that spins wool



We stopped in this restaurant for some mini dutch pancakes!


This guy is wooden shoes!


These guys were making rope!




They had an iceskating rink... and we had a blast!




it was our friend Simone's (from Itay) first time on the ice... he struggled to say the least... but was hilarious to watch! 



If you look closely you can see that this building has a wheel that converts water to energy!






This road was built for so the wheels could ride on the brick and the horses could trot on the dirt.


The dutch are wonderful at landscape architecture!!!



I hope you enjoyed my excursion. Check back tomorrow for the Beer of the Week!!